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ing characteristic inscriptions , such as ' The alliance of the peoples ; ' * The Archangel is here 5 his name is Democracy ; ' ¦ Frost , Williams , and Jones , the victims of tyranny , restored to their homes ; ' ' The sovereignty of the People ;* ' Hail , brother victim ! ' The Political Victims of 1848 ; ' ' God speed our cause ! ' and ' Disobedience to Tyrants is a duty to God . ' At one part of the procession , a copy of the Daily Telegraph , a penny newspaper , was borne aloft on a black gibbet , and set flw to as the cert € ge passed the office of the paper in
the Strand . The rear was brought up by several pleasnre vans , laden with women and children . The procession , thus made up , started from Finsbury-square at half-past twelve , passing along Moorgate-street to the Mansion-house , and so on through Cheapside , &c . Besides the persons of whom it was composed , a motley rabble of ' roughs' and boys accompanied it throughout the whole way . It was difficult to estimate the number of people who made up the cortege , but it took about five minutes to file past a given point on the journey . "
their cause ; and he was ready , if need were , to offer up life itself for it . " At this , there were renewed cheers . On the motion of Mr . Finlen , the address to Mr . Frost was then read , and unanimously adopted ; after whicl , Mr . Frost , who was greeted with cheers , said , in reply : —" I accept with much pleasure your kind congratulations on my return to ray native country , and T > e assured that I set a proper value on them . I ant convinced of their sincerity , and nothing shall be wanting on my part to continue to deserve the confidence of the working men . QCheers . ') On principle and humanity , I have ever taken the part of the weak against the strong when I believed the weak to be rignt ; and to be held in remembrance by the industrious classes gives me more real satisfaction than anything the wealthy and
powerful could bestow . ( Renewed cheers . ) It is the leading principle of that religion which , I profess , to succour the oppressed , and 3 shall do so -while life remains . Forty years ago , I "became convinced that the miserable state of our country , and of its industrious inhabitants , was occasioned by the lawgiver—by the corruption of the House of Commons—and I did all in my power to point out to my neighbours the cause of the evil and the remedy . The only remedy , as it then appeared to me , was to recur to the principles of our ancient constitution , which principles are embodied in what is now called the Charter . { Cheers . ) I saw in my native town the demoralizing effects of the present mode of electing members of the House of Commons . In the year 1837 , on the accession of Queen Victoria , I was
the Mayor of oar borough , and therefore the returningofficer . At that election , I believe 20 , 000 ? . were spent , principally in bribing the electors , in corrupting society at its very foundation , and I was obliged to receive the votes of those whom I , with good reason , suspected had received money from both candidates . During the agitation for the Reform Bill , I warned my countrymen that the thing was a humbug ; that it yvould put the sarne ' sort of men into the House as those who occupied the seats under the borouglimongering system , and I have lived to see the day when the ablest writers in England have declared that since the Reform Bill became the law of the land , the members elected under it were greater imbeciles and more dishonest than a : iy elected under the old svstem . ( Cheers . ~ ) Bitter as was
the hatred which I formerly felt for the men who oppressed and impoverished my country , it was nothing in intensity compared to what I feel at present ; and lase indeed must I be if , after witnessing the sufferings and depravity of my countrymen in Van D > iemen's Landthose , too , the work of the lawgiver—I did not exert every power I possessed to change a system which , unless altered , and speedily too , will bring down on the nation the vengeance of that God who , for crimes of a similar kind , destroj'ed the fairest spot in the world . I am pleased to find that the Chartists of London and its suburbs place confidence in my integrity ; that confidence shall not be disappointed . Let our organizations be preserved where they exist , and let others be formed
where there are none . When Parliament meets , we shall be able to place our cause before 'it in such a manner thattbc enemies of the people cannot resist our claims , which are founded on justice . The powers possessed by the House of Commons are usurpations obtained at the expense of those principles which deputies ought not to have violated ; and the poverty , misery , and crime which now afflict our country are to be attributed to these usurpations . ( Cheers . ) We play for a great stake—life or death ; let that game be played skilfully . Let ua be cool , but determined ; prudent , but fearless ; giving up no principle , satisfied with nothing less than our due , and we may yet live to see our country once more bearing ami deserving the name of ' Merry England . "'
A Mr . Henretta then proposed , and a working man , wlio was announced as a " Lancashire l > ad , " seconded , a resolution in favour of tlie People's Charter ; -which , having been unanimously agreed to , the meeting separated , after giving three cheers for Mr . Frost , and three more for the Charter .
The procession having arrived at the summit of Pnmrose-hill , a scene of great violence ensued . The ground was not sufficiently ample to accommodate the vast crowd which had assembled , and which included some very lough characters : the result of this was that an absolute fight took place ; some children were nearly trodden to death ; -women fainted , and it was with the greatest difficulty that a ring was formed round Mr . Frost and his friends . Very few policemen were pre--sent , and they had enough to do in looking after the thieves who weie busy picking pockets . Mr . Frost having mounted on a form , and order being restored , Mr . Ernest Jones was ' called to the chair , ' if the phrase be permissible , and the subjoined Ode , written by himself , was sung by the meeting to the tune of ' God save the Queen : *— - THE WORKMAN ' S SO 2 JG TO THE RICH . God save the workman ' s right , . . From Mammon ' s sordid might , And Birth's pretence . ¦ Confound the tricky rule , Of foreign courtly tool , : Give us from freedom's school , The men of sense . Forced as a boon , to ask , For labour ' s daily task From purse-proud knaves ; Not ours the land we till , Not ours the stores we fill : : Living and . dying still Beggars and slaves . " We toil at loom and spade , And still the more we ' ve made , . The less we gain ; For you the profits keep , And you the surplus heap , Till all our age can reap , Is want and pain .
Our poverty ' s your wealth , Our sickness is your health , Our death your life ; Your shops in poison deal , Banks forge and statesmen steal , And rots the commonweal , Corruption rife . " With bloodstained despots' shame , You link our country ' s name , And aid their crime ; God ! hear thy people pray ^ If there's no other way , Give us one glorious day Of Cromwell ' s time . But if the Lord of Life Will turn your hearts from strife , To clasp our hand , And bid oppression cease : Then brotherhood and peace , In Freedom's safe increase , Shall bless our land . The Chairman then delivered an address , eulogizing Mr . Frost ; attributing the wretchedness of the poor to 41 tlie monopoly of legislation , of land , of trade , of credit , and of everything else that ought to bo open and attainable ; " and advocating the appropriation by the people of the 30 , 000 , 000 acres of waste land now lying idle out of the 70 , 000 , 000 into which the country is divided . " If those public lands , " said Mr . Jones , " - were thrown open to the working classes , thousands upon thousands of them might be living independent on an allotment of fifteen acres to each man . That would not be attended by the confiscation of one acre of property , for these waste lands belong of right to the people , though the people are not even permitted to sot foot _ on them . " In the course of his address , while making an allusion to labour , Mr . Jones was interrupted by a voice asking " Do you labour ?"—followed by great uproar . Mr . Jones replied that . " ho had laboured more than the man who interrogated him—had laboured with his brain and Ins pen , in the dungeon and in a state of liberty . Ho had ruined himself individually ; he had sacrificed all the hopea of his life by his adherence to
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have a fair election , though it cost the whole force of the Federal Government to secure it . He has coupled with this promise , however , an expression of a determination to enforce the obuoxiou 3 territorial laws , which several democratic senators denounced as unconstitutional , arbitrary , and tyrannical , and has declined to interfere to protect emigrants on their way to the territory . " Some appalling accounts have been published of the atrocities perpetrated by the slavery party , who spare neither age nor sex , and actually scalp their victims , after the manner of red Indians . It ia to be hoped that these stories are exaggerated .
A letter from the Rev . Mr . Sellers , an anti-slavery lecturer , has been published in the Western Christian Advocate . It contains an account of the murder of one Benjamin Holland , a member of the same party , who was shot through the head by a mob of slavery advocates at Rochester , Mobile ; and it furthermore relates th « particulars of a disgraceful outrage perpetrated on th « writer . Mr . Sellers and his brethren proposed to lecture or preach against slavery ; but ,, one morning , a crowd assembled round a store where the writer of the letter was staying at the time , and warned him not to preach . He refused to withhold , and was then dragged violently out into the street . Mr . Holland ( an old man ) was shot , and diedih about half an hour ; and two others of the ' brethren' were fired at , onebeing slichtlv Irart ' . What
ensued to Mr . Sellers must be related in * Ms own language : — " While in the street , the mob held a consultation over me , as to the nature of the punishment I should receive from them , as the embodiment of civil power , and the self-constituted guardians of society , for thus attempting to preach Jesus and the resurrection under the banner of freedom . Some said , ' Cut bis —— -throat ; ' others , ' Scalp aim ; ' others , ' Shoot him in the head . ' At last , they concluded to tar me . They then carried me across the stteet , between another store and warehouse , 1 o a tar barrel . which was sunk in the ground , and , throwing me down on my back with considerable violence , held me there while they consulted as to the manner in which the tar should be applied . Some said , * Put him in head foremost ; ' others were for
stripping me . One fellow swore they could not agree , and he would shoot me . He aimed a revolver at rny head , but another wrested it from him , exclaiming , ' Don ' t shoot him ; ire will give him what we think lie deserves . ' At last , they concluded to do the work without stripping me- After searching me to see whether I was armed or not , and finding I had no arms concealed about my person , they commenced putting on the tar with abroad paddle . After completely saturating my hair , they gave my eyes , cats , face , and neck each a plastering . I had on a black coat , satin vest , and black cloth pants . They tarred my cravat , my shirt bosom , and rny clothes , down to my feet . They then let me wp . I was so sore I could scarcely stand on my feet ; but oh the agony of my eyes ; they appeared like balls of fire , and I thought they would burst out of my head . Although it was noon , and the hot sun . was beaming upon my head , I groped my way as at midnight . After I arose to my feer , one fellow said , ' He has one minute
to leave town ; ' another said , ' He can have five minutes , and if he is not gone in that time lie shall be shot . ' I groped my way into the street ; they followed me with their revolvers cocked , telling me to step faster , at the peril of my life . I was in so much misery I knew not where I was going . I could see objects , but could not distinguish one from another . By the lime I got across the street , between Brother Strock ' s store and stable , the tar had melted some , and I could distinguish between males and females . " Having found Iris way , in the midst of weeping and fainting women , to hjs horse , he was assisted by one of the mob in saddling the animal , but ^ vas turned back from the way he wanted to go . He afterwards met a friend and liis wife , with whom ho fied , as fast as their horses could carry them , to a place of refuse some t , wtlve miles distant , pursued all the way by the mob , who at ono time were very nearly upon them . Mr . Sellers escaped with his life , but ho -was thrown into a dangerous , illness in consequence of the treatment he received . .
Prom Nicaragua wo have confirmation of a rumour that Mr . Livingston , the United States Consul at Leon , has been shot by the Rivas party , in retaliation for the execution of Colonel Salizar by General Walker . Mr . Manning , the English consul , has been dismissed for an alleged interference in the domestic politics of Nicaragua . Walker would seem to be surrounded by difficulties—not only on account of the armed opposition which ho has to resist , but owing to want of money . Capital has flowed out of the country to an alarming extent , as a result of the unsettled condition of affairs ; and the soldiers of the nd-venturer are obliged to take temporary pay in scrip , which is not to bo sold for less than eighty cents on tlie dollar . Plantations wliich were originally of very high value , but which have l > een stripped of their produce by the invaders , may now bo obtained for a trifle ; and the country , for the present , seems to be on the verge of bankruptcy .
AMERICA . The struggle between the Senate and the Houso of Representatives has ended in the adoption of the Army Appropriation Bill without the Kansas proviso . The extra session is consequently at a close , and the President is free to use the Federal army in Kansas us he pleases . " The Republicans , " says a letter from New Vfork , " were bullied out of their position by a wellconceived dodge of the Administration—the-dismissal of all the workmen employed in the national shops in consequence of want of funds to pay them . The Ropublicnn *
were afraid of the effect of this , and withdrew enough of their forces to allow the bill to pass . The vote on the passage was 101 to 98 . " The latest intelligence from Kansas represents a continuance of warlike preparations . The partisans of slavery , under the orders of GonDral Atcliinson , and the Frcosoilers , commanded by General Lane , are preparing for an encounter , " The President , " Btiya % he writer from whom we have already quoted , 1 has announced His purpose to prevent hereafter any invasion of Kansas , come from what quarter the expedition may , and has promised that actual settlers shall
The yellow fever has broken out in a virulent form on Governor ' s Island , not far from New York , and at Brooklyn , a town of 200 , 000 people , on the soutliern shore of the East River , opposite " the Empire City , " In the city itself , the people are anxiously waiting to »« o
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Sbptembbr 20 , 1856 . ] THE XEAPER . 893
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 20, 1856, page 893, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2159/page/5/
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